Kyrion II

Kyrion II (Georgian: კირიონ II) (November 10, 1855 – 26 June 1918) was a Georgian religious figure and historian who served as the first Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia after the restoration of independence () of the Georgian Orthodox Church from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917 until his assassination in 1918. He was canonized by the Georgian Holy Synod in 2002.

Kyrion II was born as Giorgi Sadzaglishvili (გიორგი საძაგლიშვილი) in the village of Nikozi, Georgia (then part of the Tiflis Governorate, Imperial Russia), into the family of a priest. He graduated from the seminaries of Tbilisi (1876) and Kiev (Kyiv) (1880), and was appointed a deputy inspector of the Odessa Seminary in 1880. Returning to Georgia in 1883, he served both as a teacher at the theological schools in Gori, Kutaisi and Tbilisi, and a church official. At the same time, under the pseudonyms of Sadzagelov-Iverieli, Iverieli, and Nikozeli, he published several works, in Georgian and Russian, about the history of the Georgian Orthodox Church and Christianity in Georgia. He discovered and studied several unique medieval Georgian manuscripts, collected old Georgian coins, recorded pieces of folklore, sponsored talented Georgian students, and collaborated with foreign scholars interested in Georgia.

After the death of his wife and children, he became a monk, assumed the name of Kyrion, and was ordained to the position of archimandrite at Kvatakhevi Monastery in 1896. He served as a bishop at Alaverdi (1898–1901) and Gori (1901–2). In the early 20th century, during the heated debates concerning the status of the Georgian church, he was an active proponent of the Georgian autocephalist movement, calling for the restoration of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811. For this reason, he was removed from Georgia to Kamenets-Podolsk (now Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine) (1902) and later to Kovno (now Kaunas, Lithuania) (1903). During May 3, 1903 and April 23, 1904 he was a bishop of Novomyrhorod and vicar of Kherson Governorate.

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